CFB DFS – WEEK 1 | Thursday & Friday Slates | DraftKings DFS Picks, Plays and Process

But it's going to kick off with Massachusetts and Rutgers. Just an ugly looking spread. One side definitely over the other. On the UMass side, I don't know how closely you look at these guys. Maybe you get something from like a T.Y. Harding who could end up being wide receiver one. Joseph Griffin. Is in from the P four. He's a transfer in this year.

Watson's a guy from Virginia Tech, so he's got the he's got the the time in P four, but he didn't really do much there. But really, it's the Rutgers side here that you're probably going to be looking at. Dylan Lonergan does really nothing for me most of the time. But when you're playing UMass, you're going to be on my short list. Antoine Raymond, he could have been $10,000. I'll play him every single week.

He's on the slate, you know, unless, you know, maybe not.

Against Ohio State but even maybe against Ohio State uh and then KJ Duff I would argue might be the best receiver in college football if you put him on Ohio State I think there'd be a more public argument for that uh but Ben Black's in a good spot Jordan Houston Logan Blake like you're really just looking at the Rutgers side right is there anything you'll run backBring-BackIn college football, a bring-back is usually a pass catcher or running back from the team facing your quarterback stack.Pick the bring-back who gains the most when his team falls behind. In football that's usually the opponent's top pass catcher, not a running back who loses carries in a comeback.Full explanation ↗ here Kenny so I mean if I guess just looking at this game like the automatic answer is no but you'll see a trend as we go through these games, but a lot of these games are blowouts.

So I really don't like, I really don't mind some UMass runbacks, like, you know, the receiver still position player. Um, I mean, Williams Watson even cheap enough. I would not to compare UMass's offense to San Jose States, but, um, you know, garbage time, if he gets a couple of touchdowns at $5,300, that's, you know, doable. Um, but yeah, the main interest is on the Rutgers side. Um, You know, we have, you know, Raymond and Duff, who were studs last year.

I think Duff has, like, the highest – well, Jeremiah Smith. I think Duff has, like, the second-highest season-long receiving prop on underdogs. So, I mean, he's expected to have a huge year.

But I just – you know, these Rutgers guys – I mean, it's obvious who's going to be like the studs, but I think taking some shots on the lower end guys, I have no idea which one, you know, but with a forty and a half total, if they really kick the crap out of UMass, there could easily be like a Jason Benjamin, a Dizer Carter, who's like a backup slot receiver that is viable on this slate. So but yeah, not a whole lot to add.

I mean, they're, you know, returning those two guys. So, yeah. And even at KJ Duff's elevated price, ownership's going to go his way. So maybe if you, if you want to throw a dart, especially in those MMEs, you get lucky with a guy who's going to be playing most of the second half. And I think even the, the second team Rutgers could beat the breaks off of UMass. So that's, that's a good call.

I think definitely the Rutgers side, the run back, like you said, UMass is in San Jose State, so you'd be throwing darts there as well. I do have to pause for a second. I did not even mention at the beginning of the show. This one's on me. The Gopher CFP run starts tonight. Eastern Illinois, forty two and a half point favorites. If they don't win by three touchdowns, I think it's a disappointment. Speaking of a disappointment, Akron's quarterback situation.

We don't really know if Reese Poffenberger is going to play. He's already played five seasons. There's a ton of online articles predicting this game as if nothing is going on. But then if you go on X, it's like his eligibility is the only thing people care about. I will say I haven't checked in the last like, thirty minutes if it's been updated, but at last check, it's still up in the air. I'm not sure if he's going to play. I'm not sure if it matters.

Like maybe you like him at $5,500. And we talked about with UMass. Jordan Gant is a guy that we'll probably talk about a lot more when Maxson comes around. Same with Sean Patrick. Both dudes just. A tougher matchup. And then the two guys that might garner some interest, especially Marcel Williams at $4,200. Williams and Mason are the biggest returning producers from last year, and they put up some solid numbers.

So if Akron is going to be pass heavy, if Poffenbarger does play Maybe you can look at these guys, especially as runbacks, because you're looking at the wake side for sure. Gio Lopez is just simply underpriced. Ty Clark is simply underpriced. Even KD Daniels in from Florida. You could take a shot on him at $4,100 as the backup running back. Clark should get the majority, but again, blow out more run for the backups.

And then in the wide receiver room, it's a little bit more interesting. Carlos Hernandez is a likely number one biggest returning producer from last year. Cam Shanks is in from Arkansas, could see the field plenty. Antonio Meeks is just a guy who's minimum price, and he's probably going to be on the field a ton. So it's a pretty similar approach to this game as we had in the game prior.

Yeah, I was just like, when you were talking, I'm like, this is like kind of a rinse and repeat. You know, Akron, it's like, I just, I'm not, well, Marcel Williams, Kyan Mason, I might play as one offsOne-OffIn CFB DFS, a one-off is a player you roster outside a stack, often a running back or a receiver without his quarterback. A quarterback selected without his pass catchers can also function as a standalone play.Before adding a one-off, compare him with an affordable teammate of your existing stack. Decide whether his individual upside is worth passing up that extra scoring connection.Full explanation ↗, but. I'm going to probably force, you know, Wake Forest correlationCorrelationCorrelation describes how two players' fantasy scores move together. Positively correlated players tend to have big games at the same time, usually because one player's success directly adds points for the other.When you build a tournament lineup, ask which of your players need the same thing to happen. The more of them that do, the higher your lineup's ceiling.Full explanation ↗ with these Akron guys.

You know, it always seems like we get Wake Forest in these week one or two games, and, you know, I don't know if Monday's in the chat to maybe corroborate my story, but it always feels like the wide receiver four or the running back three just gets an absurd amount of touchdowns, and so I really don't mind, like, really spreading it deep with this Wake Forest team tonight, but...

Yeah I mean you kind of covered there's not a lot to add I mean it's like I said you know clark and hernandez are turning kind of like how Raymond and the duff are and then you know you have your shots shots everywhere else so yeah not not time to add yeah well I mean we saw it with usc last week there's gonna be production even in the blowouts even if these guys only played two to three quarters If they get taken out, it's because they've already scored that many points and can still get there for DFS purposes.

A game that's a lot more interesting to talk about, the one competitive game on Thursday's slate, Colorado at Georgia Tech, less than a touchdown spread. It's over a fifty point total, so Decent number of points, competitive game. So on the Colorado side, Brendan Marion's in from Sacramento State, and he's bringing his go-go offense with him, which is a two running back system. It's exactly what it says it is.

It's go-go, fast, keep the defense on their heels, disguises so you can't tell if it's a run or a pass before the ball is snapped. So A lot is going to fall on how Colorado's personnel can adapt to this new system. Juju Lewis is going to be starting at quarterback, probably a little underpriced. I think there's just a lot of fear of unknown with him.

I think his props are a little bit low, but it's certainly part of it, I think, is because Sacramento State didn't throw the ball last year, but we talked about it last week. They had terrible quarterbacks in terms of throwing. They had Cardell Williams and Jaden Rashada. So throwing really wasn't even an option. I think they will, like Marion's offense will have a little bit more passing this year in all likelihood. It's pretty difficult to get less.

Damian Harrison came with him from Sac State. He's six to two or five and very, very fast. So he's going to be likely one of the two running backs alongside to Kalen Taylor, who was hurt for a lot of last year, but he showed a lot of flashes and a lot of potential before that. But I don't know. It's so hard to predict because when you talk about Colorado running backs, it doesn't get you too excited typically. But this is a completely new offense.

And then wide receiver, Scudero is a name that we all remember, a fantasy juggernaut from last year, targeted upwards of ten to twelve times almost every single game. Completely different offense, different quarterback, different scheme. And also he was in a boot at the beginning of August. Um, he did start practicing last week. So he's, I think he's going to be healthy enough personally, but that's just the gut feel.

Uh, and then Deandre Moore's in from Texas who could easily be the number one on this team. Cam Perry's in from Miami of Ohio. He's underpriced. Um, Joseph Williams had some big games last year. Zach Atkins, Deion Sanders says is a NFL tight end. So there's a lot of names on this Colorado team. Since this game is a little bit more competitive, we can do it team by team for this game specifically. But how are you approaching this Colorado side with all of the unknowns?

Well, you know, when you said that thing about Zach Atkins being an NFL tight end, you know, Nate Borkertscher and Will Kaczmarek are also NFL tight ends. Yeah. They weren't even the best tight end on their team. That's a very good point. But, like, honestly, Colorado is, like, the most intriguing team to me. Like, as far as, like, researching this slate, like, with the new offensive coordinator, I'm really interested to see how that shakes out. Yeah.

Love taking shots on like the low-ownedLeverageLeverage is the edge you gain by rostering a play the field is underweight on, compared with how often it ends up in winning lineups. When that play outscores the popular option most lineups chose instead, you gain ground on those lineups, though the rest of your roster still decides where you finish.Look for leverage on players connected to the chalk, like the other side of a popular game or a teammate who can steal the popular player's touches.Full explanation ↗ as in this game skid arrows. I think skid arrows gonna play I don't know what his like role is gonna be but I just I think he's gonna be over owned Just like just with his fantasy history San Jose State. I don't know if that production translates, Colorado I don't know if his talent level necessarily translates to Colorado I'm curious to see where his ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ comes in.

I think I'm gonna want to be under it I don't I don't quite know where it's gonna shake out.

I want to think about it some more today, but I one thing I will say with this new oc marion like two running backs were very productive um and then also two like when he then this is more unob but he also had um ricky white ricky white and jacob de jesus a wide receiver and they were both super productive so there's there's outs for these guys to be they have ceiling performances here and I really think that there's going to be one of these guys in the GPPGPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool)A GPP is a tournament whose prize pool is guaranteed to pay out in full even if the contest does not fill. Payouts are steep: a small group at the top wins most of the money.Before you enter a tournament lineup, ask how it finishes first, not just how it cashes. If you cannot name that scenario, rebuild it.Full explanation ↗ winning lineup.

Like, I don't know. I mean, we could see a sick rushing performance from Julian Lewis. There's just, there's a ton of outs and a ton that like if you're a one-fifty guy like me, like I'm just kind of drooling over this game and just spreading it out and taking whatever shots I can. But yeah, Colorado is definitely like, yeah, the most intriguing to me and the funnest to look into. As gross as that may sound. Yep.

No, it's, I mean, on this slate especially, Also worth noting that DeAndre Moore was recruited to Texas when Brennan Marion was still there. So they had a relationship built when he was in high school, never got to play for him. Now he does. So I'm sure Marion's not upset to have Moore in his wide receiver room, especially after the production. On the Georgia tech side, Mendoza's back. We teased it in our, in our ex post that Mendoza is back. We have Alberto Mendoza.

Obviously he's got the name a lot, not very much time on the field. There's a lot of proven. And we can't even really look necessarily at how Georgia tech ran their offense last year because George got season from the NFL. I think they'll still run the ball plenty, but I would, You can't expect Alberto Mendoza to do Hayes King things, especially in his first game. But the obligatory Hayes on Georgia Tech is still there. Justice Hayes is in from Michigan.

We know he was an absolute stud last year. He's kind of like in that same boat as Antoine Raymond. He could have been priced up way more than this, and I still would have had him on my short list. Malachi Hosley and Trillane Maddox are actually both listed as starting running backs as well. Not an or situation. Georgia Tech just listed three starting running backs, but they listed fourteen starting positions on offense, which I don't think it's going to fly.

Refs would probably catch that if they tried to do that. So there will only be eleven players on the field at a time. But Maddox and Hoseley don't look too bad at the reduced prices. And then the wide receiver room, just a neat thing. DeAndre Hopkins is an assistant wide receivers coach. But that's really probably the only familiar name. In the entirety of this room.

Jordan Allen, Isaiah Furman, and Dalen Penson are likely your three starters here at the wide receiver position. Furman was a stud at Elon, so another FCS guy, seeing if he can do it at the P-four. Jordan Allen got some time with Georgia Tech last year, probably the most familiar, at least for Georgia Tech fans. And then Dalen Penson, It's just a $3,300 starter, so there's always some intrigue there.

There's four possible tight ends, but Chris Corbo is likely the guy we might see Gavin Harris from New Mexico State. And then they have this freshman, Kevin Roche, whose name you might hear, especially if Georgia Tech can handle this game. But I think there's a lot to love on this Georgia Tech side as well. A a twenty nine point team total in a competitive game.

Plus, you got cheap wide receivers and a guy like Justice Hayes we know is just a workhorse. Yeah, that running back depth chart, it's so interesting. I just feel Jamal Hayes is such a good running back, but they never would turn that guy loose. And Hosley honestly looked good last year. I'm just so curious to see, especially first game of the season.

A small slate, of course, Justice Hayes is still a pretty dang solid play, but I'll probably end up having more Hosley than him. I don't know, probably need to make some some trail in Maddox, too, if if you need some salary relief, because who knows? Georgia Tech can get goofy with running back rotation sometimes. I don't know.

I don't know if Alberto is going to have that Hayes King magic of just always hitting his projection, regardless of how much time left in the game, whatever the score is. Haynes King is going to get that DraftKings flame. He's going to get that flame. But yeah, I'm fine with Alberto tonight. He's probably kind of my... I don't know. He might be my...

Favorite quarterback tonight like for gpts he's kind of the lower end of everybody as far as ownership goes it's like you kind of pay upSpending UpSpending up means choosing a higher-priced player over a cheaper alternative, using more of your lineup's salary budget at that spot. You may also hear it called paying up.Build a version with your preferred expensive player and another without. Before choosing, check whether either version relies on a cheap player whose expected role still depends on unresolved injury news.Full explanation ↗ for um he's probably the only one that's like I mean him and juju lewis guaranteed four quarters um there's kind of some upside there um This receiver room, I might want off Jordan Allen, but I'm probably just going to pair these guys with Mendoza. And that's how I've kind of always played Georgia Tech.

Even when Singleton and Rutherford were there, they were probably, I mean, could be more talented guys than what they have now. But yeah, that's how I'm going to run it. But definitely still, you know, the only real competitive game on the slate. So there's always some kind of hidden upside, even though we're not seeing these forty point totals on either teams.

Yeah, and especially with wide receivers, there's something to be said about volume of targets in four quarters because you can play a half and score two touchdowns and get there, but, you know, it's on four receptions. These guys are going to be out there. They could easily see eight to ten targets, you know, if one of them gets a lot of the looks. So the reception upside is there. The volume – is where you get the upside in these four-quarter games.

Another probably non-four-quarter team, Illinois, hosting UAB. The highest implied team total of any of the big underdogs, UAB with a whopping thirteen and a half points. Ryder Burton is probably going to be the starter. There's a lot of ors. It's a projected depth chart. Same deal we see with a lot of these teams, especially early in the season. But Ryder Burton is... Uh, $6,500.

So it's a little bit harder pill to swallow if you're looking for that garbage time when you have guys in the $5,000's in these other blowout games. Um, running back some familiar names that don't necessarily look familiar. Rod Robinson. The second is Roderick Robinson from Georgia. Bam McReynolds is Braylon McReynolds from South Alabama. Uh, Rod, Rod Robinson is the I think the clear number one, regardless of what the depth chart says, coming from Georgia, McReynolds was great at South Alabama.

So I think there's potential for him throughout the season. Maybe not so much in this game. Illinois is not a team I like to target a ton, even in some of the Big Ten games they play, at least against them, I mean. And then Javid Simpkins is in from Coastal. It's probably going to be a mix of these three guys with the lean toward Robinson wide receivers. There's thirteen ors on the depth chart.

The one guy that I'm most confident in is Caleb Brown. He's in from Iowa. And before that, he was at Ohio State. But you could see C.J. Smith, A.J. Johnson, K.J. Daniels, Ty Sims. There's a lot of abbreviations. There's a C.D., on the team, I believe. There's a ton of just random names that are or starters. We could see all of them get three targets. But on the Illinois side, this is maybe the most underpriced overall as a team.

Caden Houser, in from ECU, we know he can chuck the pigskin. $8,300 in a plus EV matchup. Khalil Valentine, projected to start. But Aiden Lafrey, if we know anything about Illinois, they'll run two to three running backs out there, even in competitive games. So Valentine and Lawfree both look great. And then the wide receivers is where some of the more egregious misprices come. Colin Dixon and Hudson Clement are the one too.

Should probably both be around $6,000 and they're $5,200 and $4,800. Jay Sean Platt's hurt. So we have a min price starter in Braden Trimble.

Against uab a min price starter he'll definitely garner some ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ um but it's just it's a route to help you do whatever you want get some of those expensive running backs if you want to play them uh and then we could see a guy like ty Robinson alex perry from fiu's out likely for the season so eddie casper is another name that keeps popping up but there's a bunch of guys that we could see in this rotation a due to injury b it's going to be a blowout so rinse repeat from the first two games we talked about same sort of deal for you kenny yeah but they're cheaper and uab's

Like more of a I mean uab's just kind of a crap shoot I feel like compared like especially receiver you know and you kind of touched down that compared to the other two crappier teams that we have on the slate um but yeah I guess I didn't I don't know when I look at that full price I can't believe how cheap all the illinois guys are like that's that's the chalkChalkChalk is the most popular, highly owned play on a slate. The term comes from sports betting, where the favorite is called the chalk.Don't label chalk good or bad. Ask whether each popular play deserves its ownership, then decide which chalk you'll eat and which you'll fade.Full explanation ↗ you want to eat right there um I will say, so Jason Platt, like I really was getting hyped on him throughout the offseason.

He's supposed to be a starting slot receiver. He's on the Bolitnikoff watch list. I mean, whatever that counts for, really nothing. But it's something to talk about. But anyways, you know, Hank Beatty had some huge gains in that slot position for Illinois last year. So I was really targeting Platt in best ball. And he's obviously out. But Trimble at $3,000.

Being the starting slot receiver that that's your that's your little cash gem right there um both running backs I think are great um I also really don't mind one over the other I make sure both get over twenty fantasy points here I I wouldn't play hauser valentine and laughrey together but um you know two of those three is totally fine so but yeah not a lot to add to what Bill said but the illinois is probably your best thing for your buck on the slate yeah and they they ran three a lot so I mean Jordan Anderson could be in for a ton of garbage time work too uh it would have been caden fagin but

He's transitioned to tight end I would not be surprised if they if they work in some like jet traps or anything like that or line him up in the backfield as a blocker slash maybe runner um so we could see fagin involved in multiple different ways too yeah I forgot to mention him that was a that's a good call it'll be interesting to see how they they use him Yeah. So that does it for tonight's slate.

I mean, a lot of it is pretty straightforward outside of the Colorado Georgia tech game. You're, you're really looking at these huge favorites, maybe a run backBring-BackIn college football, a bring-back is usually a pass catcher or running back from the team facing your quarterback stack.Pick the bring-back who gains the most when his team falls behind. In football that's usually the opponent's top pass catcher, not a running back who loses carries in a comeback.Full explanation ↗ and you get it like San Jose state last week. It just, it keeps coming to mind because you saw flames on the quarterback. You saw flames on a wide receiver, maybe even two wide receivers. If I'm remembering, but.

When the starters for the underdogs stay in the entire game and they're playing against twos and threes by the fourth quarter, it's not out of the question that you can get to the top of the leaderboard with one of these guys in your lineup. So all that to say, just don't completely cross off, except maybe UMass. They're terrible. You know, Luke Weaver was like under a half percent ownedOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗, and I don't know if Arnold surpassed him. I mean, Arnold kind of had a collapse last week.

I don't know if he dropped below Weaver, but Weaver might have been the highest scoring player on the drafting slate last week at $5,300 and a half percent ownership. So it's possible. Yeah. Speaking of underdogs possibly getting there, I'm going to scroll and this might be the lowest point total we've ever had on a slate. Oh, it went up. It was at four and a half yesterday. Oh, shoot. It went up by twenty percent. That's crazy. That's a huge jump.

We have UTEP at Oklahoma. UTEP's a team that it just really can't get much worse. They were two and ten last year. There's not a whole lot to talk about on this side. EJ Colson is I don't know. He's an FCS guy who's up. Lamar Sperling was Al J. Henderson's backup at Buffalo. So that's not terribly exciting. UTAP's best offensive player isn't even on DraftKings last time I checked. Cam Thomas.

And I think it's because he's listed as a minor back on the roster, which translates to like offensive athlete player. He can run. He can catch. He does multiple things. But he's listed as a linebacker on Pro Football Focus. I think there's something lost in translation there. So he's just not on DraftKings.

On DraftKings, we do have Cash Cheeks, the returning tight end, and now his brother is in from Northern Colorado, Carter Cheeks, which sounds like something you do in a sculpting class with a live model. But I don't think you're playing him here on DraftKings. On the slate. You know, we talk about underdogs possibly getting there. It's just tough to see. UTEP played Texas sort of tough last year in competitive, but that might have been more of a product of Texas. I don't see it with Oklahoma.

With the offense for Oklahoma, John Mateer's back and presumably healthy. A ceiling type spot for him, even at $9,000. I'm not concerned about limited time. When they played Illinois State last year, he threw for three, eighty nine and three and ran for a touchdown as well. So They'll get him tuned up against the scrubs. Familiar names in the running back room. Xavier Robinson is listed as an or starter with Colorado State transfer Lloyd Avant.

Kind of both in that mid to upper mid range, but definitely some juice worth of squeeze there. But OU's running back room has kind of been a thorn in years past. Torrey Blaylock's back. It's a name we remember from last year getting involved, but he's been dealing with a hamstring in camp, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even go in this game.

And then Jonathan Hatton is a true freshman who's also been beat up a little bit during fall camp, but I think it's much more likely he plays. And they love this guy, and what better matchup for a true freshman than just to be able to run over UTEP in your first career game?

Uh wide receiver room I mean this is just a fantasy valhalla full of names isaiah satania I don't think we need to say much ceiling game after ceiling game last year trell Harris uh had ceiling games at virginia every time I didn't play him uh parker livingston was the darling of fantasy football early in the season last year for Texas and now it's a storyline the entire season that he went to the arch rival oklahoma And then the tight ends.

There's two viable tight ends in this offense. Hayden Hansen is a massive human being in from Florida. A little bit trouble catching the ball, but a big body. I think he's like six foot eight, two sixty. It's a massive human being that can move like he's got. High end speed. And then Rocky Beers. I'm a fan of Beers. Kenny, I think you're a fan of Beers. He's a pass catching tight end as well. Just played at smaller schools. So we're attacking Oklahoma here.

They're juicy. Yeah, absolutely. I have literally nothing to say about the UTEP side. One thing that we missed, and I don't know why it just dawned on me, but Livingstone does have a concussion injury right now. I don't know if he's going to play. I forgot to. I mean, gosh, we've talked about it so much. That just shows how many games we're trying to manage through. But yeah, he does have some concussion concerns.

But, yeah, I mean, running back, it wouldn't shock me if one of them was really good. But, gosh, just – and even, like, Mateer is going to steal some rushing. They'll rush with the wide receivers a lot, too. Like, I'm not super wild about the running backs, but I love Mateer. I love, like, maybe getting the Trail Harris bomb or two, Cetania bomb or two. I like Beers. I like Hanson.

Mean I saw eliza Thomas just drafted in a best ball this morning that's about all I know about him but he's probably not too bad of a uh a look if he is maybe that third receiving option or fourth receiving option after livingstone and so but yeah that's really really all I have to say I mean gosh that's five and a half point team photos just something's gross it's gross yeah yeah I

Was actually just looking at an article from yesterday about livingstone and it the headline is oklahoma's early injury headaches like he's in concussion protocol that's the thing though like he was listed as the as a starter on the depth chart so it just I I think it very well could be one of those situations if he passes protocol he's in if he doesn't obviously he can't but that definitely sounds like yeah and it's and which can be like I guess if Fortunately, with injury reports, it hasn't been as bad.

But a concussion is like the ultimate warm up and not play injury too. So like, just be wary of Parker Livingstone tomorrow. Like if we get full go, like obviously, if he's a full go, we have zero concerns because it's not like a knee injury or something. But totally could warm up not play a single snap with a concussion. So just be aware. Yeah. Yep. And that's where I'll go back to it.

I talk about it all the time, but it's because it's crucial being in a Discord, being part of a community where you have greasy, sweaty, try-hards all over socials, message boards, intern photographers that are at the game. We're all over the news at Ship It Nation, but that's definitely one of the biggest benefits of being part of a community for college football specifically. All right, Toledo, Michigan State, the most competitive-looking game on Friday. Well, on DraftKings.

I could rant for fifteen minutes about how upset I am that DraftKings didn't include Easter Michigan and San Jose State. It's a mid-to-upper-fifties point total, a three-and-a-half point spread, I think.

Fbs football teams and they're just like ah nah we saw him play last week so yeah give us all the teams with no data omit omit the teams with data that's actually a competitive game I would have been all over noah kim again this week like yes right all that aside uh toledo's like usually a solid mac team and they brought in mercer's coach who brought a ton of his players with him they also have a new ocn from gardner webb based on both of those guys I expect a fairly balanced offense john allen richter likely the qb will see mostly a pocket passer but we really haven't seen a ton from him so um it's there's there are definitely

Question marks uh but If you think this game holds true, then Toledo may have to be throwing a little bit more. CJ Miller is one of the guys that came from Mercer, ran for nearly a thousand yards last year. He's on the Doak Walker watch list this year. A little bit spendy considering it's a MAAC team against a Power Four team, but Michigan State is not like the upper echelon of Power Four teams.

So I do think there's a little bit there. And then Corey Smith, who has seen Michigan State before, came from Penn State. Got some run in the bowl game last year. Obviously good enough to be a running back at Penn State. Definitely good enough to be a running back at Toledo. And then the pass catchers, we have Ajitay Dabs, who's also from Mercer, was a stud there. Rico Bond, a stud from... And then Anthony Simpson, unproven, but has been at Arizona and Michigan.

So, you know, bigger school, just not as much field time versus these guys that haven't had a ton of success at smaller schools. And then on the Spartan side, we have Alessio Milivojevic, who actually played really well in the back half of the season last year. I know he torched the Gophers when he played them last season. $7,300. Speak in Noah Kim. Eastern Michigan. Yeah, I did notice FanDuel. FanDuel did something right. FanDuel did something right, including that game on there.

But he's kind of in that same boat as Noah Kim last week, kind of in that mid-range in a fairly competitive-looking game, and he's going to be just a little bit overlooked because of – the ceilings of these more expensive guys, or you go down to the cheapest of the cheap and hope for garbage time. Michigan State, one of the guys I think is underpriced is Cam Edwards, running back in from UConn.

Fitzgerald, the new coach at Michigan State, has already said he expects a big season from him. This could be the best season of it. What else are you going to say as a coach, though? I don't think he's going to have a very good year. No, he's not going to say that. But Cam Edwards does have the talent. He's got some pass catching upside nearly a thousand yards at UConn last year, even with Joe Fagnano throwing it all around the yard.

And then Marvis Parrish is in from Western Kentucky. Also a pass catcher, also has that upside. The wide receiver room, Creshawn McCray is the highest returning producer. And at $4,800 for potentially wide receiver one, it's a solid receiver. Value there. Rodney Bullard expected to be wide receiver two and he's $3,100 starting receiver, nearly mint price. We've already talked about that plenty. The third wide receiver is up in the air.

This is where you could roll the dice with some of these cheap guys. Charles Taplin and Bryson Williams both got some action last year. K.K. Smithson from Notre Dame, Frederick Morin from Michigan. You'll hear the name Braylon Collier in all likelihood. Jaden Savoury is a downfield threat at the tight end position who's likely going to start. We could see Brennan Parachek, but they love Savoury. I don't know.

There's a lot of different ways you can go with this game, and if Toledo can keep it close, I don't think it's going to be like Georgia Tech-Colorado, but there's potential here for this to be a close competitive game. Yeah, for sure. I, you know, I really haven't done a lot of analysis on this game yet, just working through the week, but I mean, Toledo has what they, yeah, they probably have the biggest team total of the, like the underdogs on the slate.

They are a little high priced that being said, they should be behind. So I don't mind some pass catcher run backs kind of a, you know, I know I've kind of, I'll be getting repetitive there, but yeah, Michigan state. So yeah, Nebraska, gosh, I might be wrong on this and I shouldn't be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure Nebraska hired Toledo's defensive coordinator as our defensive coordinator. And Toledo's produced some really good defensive backs the last few years.

Um, You know, that'd make me make me a little weary, you know, attacking. That's just like one, you know, being devil's advocate against Michigan State's passing game. But Milivojevic, I think it's super underrated. Like last year, I mean, the only Michigan State game I watched was when they played Nebraska and got benched and Milivojevic came out and slung it. Nebraska had a pretty good secondary last year. Terrible rush defense. We had a pretty dang good secondary.

I'm really interested to see what he can do here. There's not any really rushing he can add. But it's totally within the realm possibilities for him to get three hundred three. That might be kind of a ceiling, though. I don't I don't know, but I'm definitely going to be taking some shots with him like in double stacks, like gosh, Emilio Savage, McCray and like savory stack honestly sounds pretty nice.

Or even running Emilio Savage, Edwards, McCray and just trying to eat up everything from Michigan State. I don't mind that they're priced fair enough. Yeah, this is one of the sneakier spots, just kind of with the unknowns beyond McCray and Bullard. Yeah, should be. Probably, yeah, this one might be the most interesting game on the slate to get into. I don't know. Gosh.

Yeah, and another thing, too, like I just – I was thinking back to the Gophers game from last year because that was a game he had . Three hundred and a touchdown, but it was Rodney Bullard. So maybe that's something that we see. The chemistry is already built. So, you know, a thirty one, it's a I mean, honestly, a really good looking stack. So just. Yeah, well, we'll probably like this Michigan stateside when all is said and done. Yeah, they're cheap. I don't mind it.

And this will probably be the best overall football game to watch. The rest of these games I'll enjoy watching for, like, looking at what the rest of the season brings. But speaking of, like, Miami at Stanford, a team we've already seen this year in Stanford, Miami, the – I think they're going to win this game. That's not a strong stance, but I do not mind looking at this spread and noting that Miami has to travel from Florida to California.

With that said, Darian Mensah is now the quarterback at Miami. We know he put up huge numbers. Speaking of huge numbers, Mark Fletcher put up some huge numbers, but at $7,500, it's it's not. It's not a lock, I don't think, especially because they have Marty Brown back. They have Gerard Pringle back. Jordan Lyle has had some off the field issues. I don't know if he's going to play. What a fall. Starting running back against Notre Dame last year.

And now he's fourth on the depth chart, even when he's healthy. But we could see a strong mix of these guys. And just looking at the pricing, $7,500 and then a drop to $5,000 and $4,000 is it just gives you positive. Fletcher's obviously a stud. I'm not going to argue that. This is strictly a price play. And then Malachi Toney, maybe the best player in college football. Cooper Barca came with Mensah from Duke.

We know that he was a heavy, heavy target last season. Mensah's got a lot of chemistry with him. And then there's names that we just recognize. Joshua Moore had some huge games last year. He's definitely viable. Elijah Lofton has potential. Abandrevious Jacobs is in from South Carolina, who was – a stellar player in terms of South Carolina. And then on the Stanford side, I don't know. Davis Warren had a big game last week. That was against Hawaii.

Micah Ford is typically a huge fantasy producer. Maybe, you know, he's priced at $6,000, which is, I think maybe the cheapest he'll be all season is also the toughest matchup he'll see. But with a twelve point team total, you're looking at one, maybe two touchdowns to go around if, if the total holds. And then in the wide receiver room, Benji Blackburn is one guy that you might want to look at. He was targeted the most last week.

And it's a tight end, easy throws for Davis Warren to make. But then we also have Caden High and Nico Brown, who are still, as of last night's injury report, still questionable. So that could throw a wrench into the rest of this wide receiver room. So it just feels yucky looking at these guys, especially with the current unknowns.

Yeah it's like are we gonna see like what you know Miami's kind of been weird last year because you know they had cam ward they slung it around everywhere had an all right running game and then throughout the last season they just they felt like they couldn't find their identity on offense like with the exception of tony and then throughout the playoffs like they just controlled the ball grinded it out with mark Fletcher um it almost felt like they saved him for the playoffs like last year um They really did a lot of Jamar Brown and Pringle throughout the year.

And obviously, I mean, Lyle would be in that rotation. I don't think he's going to be playing week one. But I love kind of taking shots on Brown and Pringle.

They're not going to project worth a crap, but I could just see, you know, if Miami does get up, brown and Pringle paying off those those cheaper um cheaper price tags um I mean

I don't even remember last year I think it was the old miss Miami game like the last drive of the game after Fletcher had you know dominated and been great smart brown had there to finish it out like Miami does weird stuff like that we could also see them be like more like when now they have mensa who's more of a gunslinger than carson beck I'd like to think um maybe they throw it a ton more I I mean this is like a big spread but it's not huge it's not like we're seeing like a thirty eight point spread here um it's on the road there's a chance this could get a little closer than

That spread appears I've seen I mean Miami traveled to calvin almost lost a couple years ago should have lost a cow um it's just it's kind of interesting there might be some fan I mean the more competitive the better for Miami's fantasy um outlook So there's definitely some shots I'd like to take and almost like playing Miami with different game scriptsGame ScriptGame script is how a game's score and time remaining influence its pace, play choices and player opportunities. In football, teams protecting a lead often run more, while teams chasing a deficit often pass more.Before locking a lineup, ask who keeps playing if your expected script reverses. Check passing-down roles and backup rotations instead of assuming a team's leading rusher handles every situation.Full explanation ↗. Like, do I want Mensah, Tony, Barclay, or do I want like a Fletcher and Pringle?

Like if they blow, beat them really badly and just control the clock. Um, yeah. And then Stanford, like obviously we have a really solid one week or one week sample on them. Um, you know, you kind of touched on, you know, Blackburn, Ford's obviously a, uh, volume hog. Um, Really, though, I don't – I mean, Miami should have a pretty dang solid defense. I don't mind Blackburn. I don't know how much forward I'll get. I think I'll leave Davis Warren pretty good last week in week zero.

And then, yeah, and obviously – I mean, the wide receiver, if high and brown play, like it's just even more of a question mark. So it's – Stanford's super cut and dry to me. Like there's a couple guys that you might take shots on and then you can just throw the rest away. Yeah, it should be interesting. Yeah, it's a little bit different than the other blowouts we've talked about.

Like it's a different approach than just maybe having a run backBring-BackIn college football, a bring-back is usually a pass catcher or running back from the team facing your quarterback stack.Pick the bring-back who gains the most when his team falls behind. In football that's usually the opponent's top pass catcher, not a running back who loses carries in a comeback.Full explanation ↗ on the underdog or hoping for garbage time. There's a legitimate chance Stanford can keep it somewhat competitive for even if it's a short period of time, just to extend those Miami starters a drive or two longer. And yeah, this is actually a good Thursday games. We went over early for anybody showing up midstream or just recently we went over Thursday before this.

So, uh, definitely go back and watch covered like a blanket. All right. Our last game on DraftKings. Oh, look, look, what's peeking out. We have the FanDuel only game down there just all by itself and all lonely. It's a sad, sad day. Uh, but we have Fresno state at USC Fresno, another fairly significant dog. Um, It'll be interesting to see how Fresno performs in front of a crowd of eighteen people. If we have a repeat of last week at the Coliseum.

The one thing I'll say like USC didn't blow San Jose State out of the water. They definitely controlled the game. But I do think Fresno State has like bigger guys up front. The trenches will be a little bit different of a test for USC. I think they'll still handily win this game. But we could see a little bit more of a dogfight for a little bit longer. But Fresno State.

Christian Martin said he would never play football on the West Coast, and all of a sudden, oh, Fresno's on my radar. Fresno caught him a check, and he's not even starting. Jaden Mandel's projected to start. You play him for the same reason you played Weaver last week. I mean, not very many of us played Weaver before. Playing for the same reason we wish we would have played Weaver last week.

The running back room is a little tricky because it's likely going to be running back by committee between Rayshon Luke and Donaldson.

Luke is likely the number one guy if you're looking for the top running back, but you do get a little bit of a discount with Donaldson who has proven himself in the past the wide receiver room uh some familiar names from last year josiah freeman was the number one last year and he's got a ton of target upside And then, like, Ezekiel Avett is returning as well, and he's in the three Ks. But you're just looking at value and potential, just like we saw with...

I feel like we said San Jose State more this week than we said when they were on slate last week. On the USC side, this... USC could get a little bit interesting because Jade Maiava... I don't know that we need to say a ton about him. He looked really good against an inferior opponent. King Miller and Wayman Jordan likely in more of a split this week as Wayman gets back to. One hundred percent if he if he's not there yet, but they're both priced up.

It's hard to play a split without knowing which one it's going to be. Maybe if you're doing MME, you take some shares of either guy. But Wormley scored a touchdown. I think that he scored he. He was one that scored maybe even before anyone else. Yeah, he might have. I think he scored the second touchdown of the game. Yeah, so that's college football at its finest. And then the wide receiver room may be the most interesting room in this game.

Trent Mosley obviously had a huge game last week. Dixon Wyatt had a great game as well. Mark Bowman played really well. It just didn't show in the stat book. He looked like a starting tight end in the Big Ten last week. But the wrenches this week come with to no kinds who is listed on the depth chart as an or starter, just like he was last year, last week. Uh, Corey Sims ended up seeing the field more than like booby Feaster.

Tron Baker is also listed as an or guy on the depth chart. Uh, Terrell Anderson was out last week. I did not see him on the depth chart this week. So that would, I would presume that he is out again. I think he's listed as doubtful on DraftKings already. Uh, so we're not expecting Anderson, uh, but Heinz could really throw a wrench into this wide receiver room.

How do you attack a team like this where there's, and I guess game overall when there's, when there's question marks like that. Yeah. And so what I think, so this is, this game blocks an hour after initial lock and then alongside.

So, I mean, if we did, so, I mean, I guess if we know for sure to the clients is a hundred percent wide open, he's probably got the highest projection and, um I don't know Mosley looked freaking awesome last week for a true freshman um like I think it's gonna be hard to keep him off the field if he continues to play like that so it's definitely like I mean if times is out I mean moses gotta be a top wide receiver play on the slate Gosh, I don't know.

UST was just so volatile last week. I'm just scared of all of them. The GDP in me makes me want to not take shots on Mosley just because of the volatility with the UST rotations. That kind of leads into the running back. I would think maybe Miller and Jordan get a little more of a workload this week, especially Jordan, who's kind of ramping up.

He had some injuries he dealt with in the offseason coming back off of ACL, I think, coming back off some injury from last year. But, yeah, I really am not super interested in fighting with that rotation, and I bet you can guess what I'm going to say about the Fresno State guys, but I don't mind them as runbacks with my Ava.

So, you know, after last week and seeing how early USC pulled some key players, I'll probably have to have some stacks for Fresno State. I'm just kind of talking through this out loud. But yeah, at least there's another game with this one to if you really need to change your lineup. If for some reason Tyrell Anderson was on the field with his albinon and everything, that wouldn't put it past USC a bit for that to happen.

There's at least some flexibility with the USC game, so that's good. Yeah, and that's a good point. The lock timeLineup LockLineup lock is the deadline after which you cannot change your selected players. Without late swap, your entire lineup locks together; with late swap, which allows edits after the contest begins, players lock at their games' listed deadlines.After saving an edit, reopen your entered lineups and confirm the change reached every intended entry. Check the site's displayed lock times and time zone instead of relying on the television schedule.Full explanation ↗ for that game, same time as kickoff for the Stanford game, both teams on the West Coast at It does give, like having three other teams instead of just one other team that's an underdog to have that flexibility is clutch.

I mean, on FanDuel, this is not an updated game yet, so ignore the names, but this is just what it looks like, what we could have had on DraftKings, a competitive game, a fairly high total, a field goal spread. And we saw these teams. So... Like if you're playing FanDuel, you're still probably looking at Noah Kim, Nick Devereaux, these guys. Benson Prosper is a guy who had a big game. And then on the San Jose State side, obviously Luke Weaver's a starter.

These are just out of order right now. Jabari Bates, we talked about him last week. Maybe that wasn't the spot for him, but this week. He's got a much more favorable matchup. So this is a game, if you're playing FanDuel, take a look at on Friday because this has a lot of fantasy goodness and you're not going to see as much coverage of it because it's not on the DraftKings slate.

It's going to get half of the coverage or less, I would presume, across the industry. Right. And yeah, this is definitely like would have been like the funnest game to target on the DraftKings slate. So I'm guessing they didn't put it on because it's such an early start time. But you actually can play San Jose State Easter Michigan on DraftKings at a six thirty p.m. ShowdownShowdown (Captain and MVP)Showdown is a single-game DFS format where you build a lineup under a salary cap. In Captain or MVP formats, you assign one player to a special roster slot that multiplies their fantasy points and can increase their salary.Compare complete lineups with different players in the multiplier slot. Leaving salary unused can reduce duplication, but do not sacrifice meaningful scoring potential just to make your lineup unusual.Full explanation ↗ slate. I just I don't know.

They tend to do that if there's like like even with the Ireland game last week, they leave that game off early. I don't know what the reasoning is behind it, but I guess that's probably why they did it. But you can't I can't believe they have a showdown slate for it. That's awesome. Yeah. And I mean, In hindsight, I'm not upset they left that Ireland game off of the main slate of DraftKings last week. Right, right. It was a fantasy stinker.

I mean, it was great. You had some success with Showdown with that last week, though, didn't you? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did win the Showdown morning contest with a lineup that left $4,200 on the table. So that tells you how gross that game went. Yeah. The contest for this EMU showdown I'm looking at now are disgusting as well. All right. Well, that covers Thursday and Friday. Again, if you joined us late, we covered Thursday first. We have everything up for Thursday now.

It just got activated live during the stream on ShipItNation.com. So you can go over and get a membership, even if you just want college football, like I said, less than a dollar a day. And one thing that is new this year that I want to show off is the Stone 2.0. This and the OG Stone talk to each other. So we have our colors. We have these guys color coded.

So if you play cash and you only want to look at the guys we have listed as cash consideration, there you go. If you want to look at the guys that are, if you have a cash lineupCash GameA cash game is a contest that pays a large share of the field, usually close to half, the same flat prize. Fifty-fifties, double-ups and head-to-heads are the common cash games.Treat cash games as the steady base of your bankroll. Use one safe core across your cash entries on a slate, and save riskier ideas for tournaments.Full explanation ↗ built other than two players, see, this is the great part. If I want to build a single entrySingle-EntryA single-entry contest allows each user exactly one lineup. It can be a cash game or a tournament.In single-entry, one or two contrarian decisions are usually enough. Pair a strong, popular core with a lower-owned piece instead of fading everything the field likes.Full explanation ↗ lineup, but I don't want it to be completely cash guys, I can put in, let's see, and get some cheaper guys here. There, I have five guys that are cash viable.

Now I want to look for some of those guys that have high ceilings, and I can look at who fits this lineup the best. Or if I just know I want to play these five guys and don't care who the other three are, Optimize Lineup, it fills it in for you. This is a new feature we have across several sports on our website. If you're not sure who's injured or not, There, look at the injury risk.

These are the guys currently marked, and that gets updated. It's fluid. Tambo got into the college football streets last week. Our fearless leader posted, I don't know anything.

Don't know anything about college football, but I use a stone to point out, use the markings and built a lineup and he took down the fifty dollar contest I think it was but it's it's just such a useful tool to have everything right in front of you you can sort by projections you can sort by ownershipOwnershipOwnership is the percentage of lineups in a contest that include a given player. Projected ownership is an estimate made before lock; actual ownership is posted once the contest locks.Ownership isn't something to avoid; it's something to build around. The goal is understanding how the field is likely to build, then finding your edge relative to that.Full explanation ↗ um you can even look at the team totals all right who has the highest team total and this is current again we update this throughout the day especially leading up to the slate for any major changes so um a super super useful tool and it just comes with the main membership Obviously, you'll see if you go down, it'll show.

You get the Stoughton two point on Stone 2.0 point now with both college football memberships. Kenny, any other final thoughts on the slate before we get out of here? We kept it under an hour, which eight games. That's good. I think that's a good. Yeah, I mean. I guess it's one thing, and this is kind of just this week as a whole.

This is one of the rare, rare times of the year where we get college football not competing with NFL or a lot of other sports. So these contests are going to be as big as they're going to be.

I mean, if you're a little hesitant about college football and signing up, like if you signed up this like tonight today for just like a month pass, and then you're going to move on to NFL for the rest of the season, you're going to get all that value soaked up in like these next five days, because there's so many games, so many slates, so many good tournaments.

So, I mean, if you're just like interested in giving it a shot, this is like right now is the time to do it. That's the only thing I guess I, you know, really had to say, but that's not very often. Do we get, you know, a third decade of first with these type of games.

So, yeah and just looking at this weekend the twenty dollar contest is $100,000 up top in college football which is not typical as we get later in the season even the night slate the fifteen dollar contest is $25,000 to first which is which is a good number so there's there's big contests throughout the weekend I would ex I would anticipate some pretty big contests on Sunday too just given the teams that are playing um you know we'll have Blue Blood squads, Power Four squads.

I mean, like the biggest spread is going to be Wisconsin Notre Dame, but those are still two very familiar teams that people have eyes on. So yeah, like I said, Ship It Nation's here throughout the entire weekend, but that's going to do it for our Thursday and Friday breakdown. We'll be back tomorrow at twelve thirty Lord's time zone. That's the central time zone for you new guys. We'll be breaking down the Saturday slate early tomorrow afternoon. So be back for that.

But we're going to sign off here with our rule number one, the same way we do our ode to the big guy. James is rule number one. College football is fun. Enjoy the sweat. Enjoy building your lineups. Just be thankful that we have college football on our TV and we have five straight days of it this week, which is excellent. Enjoy watching college football. Let's see some green up top. Let's go out there and ship one for the big guy.